Most Important Facts on Paleolithic Age

Paleolithic is most primitive and longest phase of stone age.  Marked by nomadic hunter-gatherer humans, development of stone tools, controlled use of fire, and cave art.

Paleolithic Age roughly spans from about 3.3 million years ago when first stone tools were used till around 12000 years ago. It is divided into three phases with rough division as follows:

1. Lower Paleolithic (3.3 million to 300,000 years ago)
2. Middle Paleolithic (300,000 to 50,000 years ago)
3. Upper Paleolithic (50,000 to 12,000 years ago)

Lower Paleolithic

Human species

The most ancient hominin species in the Lower Paleolithic period was Australopithecus, which was primarily associated with the earlier Pliocene epoch but some of them such as Au. Africanus and Au. Afarensis persisted in early Lower Paleolithic.

However, they are not definitively known to have used stone tools. There is a debate about whether species like Australopithecus garhi might have used tools, as suggested by animal bones with cut marks found in association with Australopithecus fossils, the evidence is not definitive. Thus, it is more accurate to associate deliberate and routine stone tool manufacture and use with the genus Homo rather than Australopithecus.

Other species, that used stone tools prevalent in Paleolithic era were:

• Homo habilis (2.3-1.5 million years ago): This was the most ancient Homo species giving clear evidence of stone tool use.
• Homo erectus (1.9 million – 1.1 million years ago): This species was the first to leave Africa and spread across Eurasia
• Homo heidelbergensis (700,000 – 200,000 years ago): This species was potentially an ancestor to both Neanderthals and modern humans
• Early Homo sapiens (emerging around 300,000 years ago)

Tool technology

Earliest known stone tools in world made by early hominins in lower Paleolithic. The oldest and crudest tools were named Oldowan industry which later succeeded by more advanced Acheulean Industry.

• Oldowan industry (2.6-1.7 MYA): simple stone tools like choppers and flakes
• Acheulean industry (1.7– 1.3 MYA): more advanced tools, including hand axes
• Use of fire (controlled use from about 1 million years ago)

Cultural and cognitive developments:

• Increased brain size and complexity
• Development of language and symbolic thought
• Evidence of social cooperation and shared labor

Subsistence strategies:

• Scavenging and opportunistic hunting
• Gathering of plant foods
• Expansion of diet to include a wider variety of foods
• Possible use of fire for cooking, improving food quality and digestibility

Geographic distribution and expansion:

• Origin in Africa
• Expansion into Eurasia (starting around 1.8 million years ago)
• Colonization of various environments, including temperate and subtropical regions
• Adaptation to different climates and ecosystems

Interbreeding between human species:

• Limited evidence for this period, but genetic studies suggest some interbreeding occurred later
• Possible gene flow between Homo erectus and other early human species
• Foundations laid for later interbreeding events (e.g., between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens)

Middle Paleolithic

This period marked increasingly developed and more specialized stone tools.

Human species

• Homo neanderthalensis (400,000 – 40,000 years ago): Neanderthals flourished in Europe and Parts of Asia in this age.
• Homo sapiens (emerging around 300,000 years ago)
• Late Homo heidelbergensis (in early Middle Paleolithic)
• Denisovans (a distinct species or subspecies, known mainly from DNA evidence)

Tool technology

• Mousterian industry: more sophisticated flake tools
• Levallois technique: Some scientists have named the advancement in tool making as Levallois technique after a site in France called Levallois-Perret. The key features of this industry is predetermined and standardized flake shapes involving carefully shaping and carving the tools such as points, blades, scrappers and flakes.
• Hafting: attaching stone tools to wooden handles
• Increased use of bone and antler tools
• Continued and consistent use and control of fire

Cultural and cognitive developments

• Evidence of symbolic thought and art (e.g., ochre use, shell beads)
• Possible early forms of religion or spiritual beliefs
• More complex social structures
• Burial of the dead, suggesting ritual behaviour began in middle Paleolithic age. The ritualistic burial practice was probably started by Neanderthals (evidence at Shanidar Cave) but definitely by Cro-Magnons, who were the earliest known  sapiensin Europe and were the only individuals known for purposeful, ritualistic burials in Paleolithic era.
• Possible early forms of language and communication

Subsistence strategies:

• More efficient hunting techniques
• Possible development of trapping
• Increased exploitation of marine resources in some areas
• Seasonal migration patterns following prey
• Possible food storage techniques

Geographic distribution and expansion:

• Homo sapiens spread from Africa into the Middle East and parts of Europe and Asia
• Neanderthals occupied Europe, parts of Asia, and the Middle East
• Denisovans present in parts of Asia

Interbreeding between human species:

• Evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens
• Genetic evidence of Denisovan interbreeding with Homo sapiens
• Complex patterns of gene flow between different human populations

Middle Paleolithic era is also known as human migrations, adaptations, use of composite tools and early forms of language and communication.

Upper Paleolithic

During this age, modern humans spread globally, replacing other hominid species. The age saw significant advances in tool technology, including blades and burins.

Human species

• Homo sapiens (modern humans) become the dominant species
• Neanderthals go extinct around 40,000 years ago
• Last known Denisovan remains date to about 50,000 years ago

Tool technology

• Blade tools: longer, more specialized stone blades
• Burins, awls, and needles for working bone, antler, and hide
• Spear-throwers (atlatls) for improved hunting
• Bow and arrow technology emerges
• Increased use of organic materials (bone, antler, ivory)

Cultural and cognitive developments:

• Explosion of symbolic behavior and art
• Cave paintings (e.g. Lascaux, Chauvet, Bhimbetka in India)
• Personal ornaments and jewelry
• Development of some kind of Music instruments
• More complex social structures and possibly trade networks
• Evidence of ritual and religious practices

Subsistence strategies:

• Specialized hunting of large game animals
• Fishing and exploitation of aquatic resources
• Possible domestication of dogs
• Development of food preservation techniques
• Use of grinding stones, suggesting increased plant food processing

Geographic distribution and expansion:

• Homo sapiens colonize most of the habitable world
• Expansion into Australia (around 65,000-50,000 years ago)
• Migration into the Americas (by at least 15,000 years ago)
• Adaptation to diverse environments, including Arctic regions

Interbreeding between human species:

• Final phases of interbreeding between Homo sapiens and other human species
• Genetic evidence of these interbreeding events preserved in modern human DNA

Climate warming led to end of last Ice Age and transition to Mesolithic Era.